1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to accounting and management of information therefor, and more particularly, to reporting usage and billing of enterprise wireless communications devices.
2. Related Art
Mobile wireless communications devices, which refer generally to cellular phones, smart phones, tablets, personal digital assistants, wireless hot spot devices, and so forth, are widely used in contemporary business enterprises, to the point of practical ubiquity. Conventional devices are capable of voice and data communications, and are thus used to place telephone calls, send e-mails and text messages (via the Short Message Service, or SMS), browse the web, and download media, and to perform any other function that involves the transfer of data between the device and a remote system. The capabilities of these devices are almost limitless and find application in facilitating numerous business roles.
These devices have multiple wireless communications modes that serve different purposes. For short range, low data throughput, device-to-device communications such as that for wireless headsets Bluetooth is commonly utilized. For high-speed local area networking with other computers and/or devices, and for connecting the device to the Internet, WiFi (IEEE 802.11x) may be utilized. Although WiFi data links have high data throughput, range tends to be limited. WiFi networks/hotspots are typically found in businesses and homes for linking commonly owned computing resources together and to connect to the Internet. For the most part, the networks are individually managed, and access may be restricted to authorized devices. Extensive efforts to deploy public WiFi networks in a variety of locations have been made. In commercial establishments such as cafes, access may be free, but in public places such as airports, train stations, libraries, and the like, access may be granted only upon payment. Some service providers have deployed WiFi networks in multiple different locations, but each being accessible with a single user account established with the provider.
Although WiFi service is expanding to more locations, cellular-based communications modalities provides the most extensive voice and data coverage. Generally, cellular networks are comprised of a series of sites with short-range transceivers, to which the mobile devices or handsets are linked over established protocols. These protocols are a part of competing families of standards classified under 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), which relies upon the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard as its base, and 3GPP2 (3rd Generation Partnership Project 2), which relies upon cdmaOne as its base. The respective fundamental standards have evolved over time with increasing data transfer speeds and network availability. Competing service providers have adopted one standards platform or another, and performance improvements resulting from each enhancement are touted as key differentiators.
In order to accommodate different usage profiles amongst the subscriber base, service providers offer a variety of packages at different price points. Although some subscriptions are pre-paid for a certain amount of airtime with no commitment periods, most subscriptions are two-year commitments and billed on a monthly basis for varying baseline usage. For example, one package may be offered for a minimal number of minutes with the lowest price, while another package may be offered for additional minutes with a higher price. Any usage exceeding the baseline (200 minutes in a month, for example) may be billed at a higher rate per minute. In addition to voice calls, data usage may also be part of the package and tracked/billed the same way.
Mobile wireless subscriptions are typically paid for by individual consumers, even though some business uses may occur. However, an increasing number of companies purchase devices and subscriptions for employees, particularly to salespeople and executives who frequently travel, but must remain in contact with customers and employees alike. Additionally, company-issued devices may be necessary for employees who are critical to operations and must always be reachable in case of emergencies.
With this practice becoming the norm, wireless subscription costs for businesses are growing exponentially. Presently, no solutions exist for reporting on the usage of company-owned devices, though painstaking manual reviews of individual bills on a systematic basis have yielded cost savings of up to 25%. Companies are oftentimes organized or structured according to business functions, with each unit being responsible for its own budget and costs, including mobile subscriptions. Appropriate chargebacks allocating the costs to the incurring unit would be desirable, but again, there are no solutions therefor. This process is further complicated when there are multiple wireless service providers. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved enterprise wireless device usage reporting system and method which can serve as a single consolidation point for managing multiple wireless subscriptions.